Judge’s Facebook comments about rape condemned as racist

09 May 2016 - 11:40 By FRANNY RABKIN
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Facebook logo. File photo.
Facebook logo. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images / iStock

A high court judge may have landed in trouble after her comments about rape and black culture were posted on social media.

Judges are generally held to higher standards in their utterances, even when their statements are intended to be private, and this is especially so when their comments could affect public perceptions about their impartiality in judging cases that come to their courts. Judge Mabel Jansen’s comments — reposted on Facebook and Twitter at the weekend by film-maker Gillian Schutte — have been condemned as racist and have raised questions about whether a black man accused of rape would get a fair trial before her.

In the messages Ms Schutte put up on social media, Judge Jansen said: "In their culture a woman is there to pleasure them. Period. It is seen as an absolute right and a woman’s consent is not required.

"I still have to meet a black girl who was not raped at about 12. I am dead serious."

Read the full story on BDlive

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